What do monkeys have to do with war, oppression, crime, racism and even e-mail spam? You'll see that all of the random ass-headed cruelty of the world will suddenly make perfect sense once we go Inside the Monkeysphere.
Exactly! In any social structure, be it a government or a suicide cult, there is always a tug of war between self interest and the greater good. When one side pulls hard enough to unbalance the other everyone suffers.
Ever start hacking some code and mentally critising the authour only to find out you were the authour?
I don't think it's about why people forget I think it's about why people remember. I think you remeber quicksort because you admire it's elegance. Certainly the type of work one does also has an influence on what people do or don't remember. I used to teach C lab classes part time in the early 90's and wrote the universities "text book" on searching and sorting techniques, back then I had no trouble remebering the algoritim. I don't know when I forgot it and didn't realise I had until the GP mentioned it.
I don't ask those sort of things until after I have determined they are honest. I'm not rude to bullshitters but I try not to waste too much time on them.
We read the book at school in the early 70's not long after the movie was realesed and then watched the movie in class. As another poster said the movie stops at Jupiter. The phycodelic stuff at the end is supposed to represent a new dawn of mankind as does the ape scene at the beginining. The basic plot is that god is an alien, even as a 12yo I enjoyed it but then again I've always been attracted to weirdmovies.
In otherwords I think Kubrick's movies do stand on their own and are well worth taking the time to understand, particularly clockwork orange and 2001, ymmv.
"I agree it's sort of hard to know one way or the other"
I think it's rather obvious what the article is saying and I agree with the GP that the summary is using 'scare quotes' it is also strongly implying that school policy is designed to crush independent thought. However TFA does not say what school policy the kid broke nor does it imply the school was sending him to renedification camp, it says...
"The student will not be prosecuted, but authorities were recommending that he and his parents get counseling, the spokesman [Luque] said. The student violated school policies, but there was no criminal intent, Luque said."
It then has two sentances expanding on the point of charges and costs before it gives the reason for the recommendation; "Luque said both the student and his parents were extremely upset. "He was very shaken by the whole situation, as were his parents".
Luque is the spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, and although the school may agree he is not speaking for them when he uses the word "authorities".
"Slashdot's summary seems to be pretty accurate."
It's not the facts in TFS the GP is complaining about, it's the misleading inuendo that panders to the paranoid delusions of a large number of slashdotters.
From TFA I can't see the principals actions as being anything but cowardice. Reading betwen the lines it would appear he didn't attempt to investigate the device but rather left the kids playing with it and ran off to call the cops.
I can certainly see the cops side of it, they cannot afford to assume the principal is crying wolf and they don't appear to have had the device at hand since they had to send a robot in to examine it.
The authorities recommended counciling...."authorities were recommending that he and his parents get counseling"
Probably because...."both the student and his parents were extremely upset. "He was very shaken by the whole situation, as were his parents," Luque said."
Cops and firefighters see traumatised people on a daily basis, I would assume their recommendation is sound advise.
I don't blame the cops at all, they must act as if the threat is real until they can determine otherwise, false alarms are much more common than real bombs but they cannot simply assume someone is crying wolf. Why (after talking to the kid) the authorities evacuated the school and went to the kids home is a total mystery. It would appear that by the time the cops arrived the kid was so scared and confused that he was not making a great deal of sense.
Why the principal jumped on the conclusion mat is a total mystery. If he thought it was a bomb when he first saw it but allowed the kids to continue playing with it while he called the cops then the whole sorry story can be explained by his monumental cowardice.
20yrs commercial experience since I was at Uni and gained my CS degree, most of it programming in C where quicksort is a library call. I had a vague recollection the algorithim involved recursion. I also majored in operations research and even though I passed with flying colours I still don't understand how some of the logistical algorithims work let alone remeber the details. The important part is knowing they exist and recognising where they might be applicable.
"If that's too confusing for you to understand or remember, once it's been taught to you, you should NOT be programming."
I've worked with people who have been in the bussiness for 40yrs, I put it to you that all of them would have forgotten more random trivia than what is currently stored in your head.
Agreed, you don't have to be a god to say no. All that is required is a modest fuck off fund and a little self respect. If the inteviewer wants a parrot then they should visit a pet store.
OTOH having interviewed ~50 programmers over the years I found most of them who get past HR are knowledgeable enough to do the job so you need to sort them by personality. One such personality sorting alogrithim I use is to ask esoteric questions until the prospective employee is forced to either start bullshitting or say the magic words "I don't know, I would have to look it up".
Since no two programmers have the exact same set of esoteric knowledge you can usually reach the crunch point in a few minutes and their response makes your choice obvious and defendable to others in the interview process.
I can "imagine" finding out lots of things and yes there are a huge number of small risks that only come about because of industrialization, mecury and lead being prominent examples. If you want to filter your water to negate some of those small risks I have no problem with that and agree that it will improve the quality of your drinking water. In places where there is no water treatment a simple clay pot embedded with charcoal dust to make it pourous will do a pretty good job.
However I still think that people who ignore almost a century of real world evidence and campaign against chlorine (or fluoride) based on their imagination are luddites who are throwing out the baby with the bath water. The fact that greenpeace do it simply provides anti-environment types with more ammunition to discredit anyone concerend about serious environmental problems.
I'm not sure where you are getting your information on fluoride and it's alleged link to Alzheimer's but WP lists anti-fluoride campaings under their consipracy theory entry. They state "almost all major health and dental organizations support water fluoridation, or have found no association with adverse effects" and they point to their source
I could see some merit in the chemical idea if health was their sole motivation and they had something more than anecdotal evidence connecting the ailments to the towers, however also from TFA...
"Bismarck Olivier from the legal firm Bezuidenhout, Van Zyl and Associates, who represents the Craigavon residents, previously said that there is no talk of abandoning the action against iBurst and that the recent activity surrounding the issue is ‘only the beginning’. Olivier added that anyone who thinks that their legal case is based only on health issues is sorely mistaken, adding that their case is not built on health concerns alone, but rather various other aspects related to the mast, including the public participation and environmental approval processes which they are confident are flawed."
I read that as, "Yeah we know we are peddling public health FUD but that is not why my NIMBY clients want the tower removed". Notice also that his statement gives no clue as to what his clients motivation actually is now that his FUD has been soundly debunked.
And opportunists. Particularly of the unemployed kind, which I imagine most people claiming to be electrosensitive are.
Ironic post considering the title. Where would an unemployed S. African get the cash to hire lawyers and why would they care about property values? Or was it just that you saw an opportunity to bash the unemployed?
"I also once read a theory that the US cotton industry was behind the marijuana ban in the early 20th century. Or maybe it was the paper industry. Or both."
Your thinking of DuPont and it's relation to Harry Anslinger who was more or less the chief architect of modern prohibition.
"Sorry to dissapoint you, but cannabis is not legal in the Netherlands."
Technically it's not legal but in practice it is, this odd status has more to do with loop holes in international treaties than anything else. When I was over there recently I had no trouble buying high quality hash joints at any one of a dozen coffee shops within walking distance of Rembrantplein.
"people that trade cannabis in large quantaties"
I don't know what qualifies as "large quantities" but the brisk bussiness at the larger shops/bars indicates they have one hell of a stash somewhere. And at five euros per joint I imagine the profits, jobs and tax revenue it creates are not insignificant.
"You can read more on wikipedia"
Much more fun to actually go there and experience a society that refuses to declare war on itself.
"institutions like the WHO must also justify their existence"
The WHO erradicated the biblical plague of smallpox from the face of the Earth and are pretty close to achieving the same thing with polio. I went to school with polio victims in the 60's and as far as I am concerned their track record more than justifies their existence.
It a pity the WHO don't have a cure for arrogance and hubris because the comments I've read so far are sickening.
I'm glad you spoke up. I can't belive the number of supposedly educated people who automatically jump onto the conspiracy/scam conclusion mat. I'm sure that the drug companies rub their hands at this sort of thing but that does not change the risk/benifit analysis. I would much rather the government spent millions on vaccines that are not used than ignore credible warnings and end up spending millions on body bags.
Yes the WHO were wrong about the number of dead but it IS a very nasty strain that causes severe lung infections. Here in Australia swine flu put an unusually heavy load on ICU beds last winter.
Slashdot Mirror
What do monkeys have to do with war, oppression, crime, racism and even e-mail spam? You'll see that all of the random ass-headed cruelty of the world will suddenly make perfect sense once we go Inside the Monkeysphere.
Exactly! In any social structure, be it a government or a suicide cult, there is always a tug of war between self interest and the greater good. When one side pulls hard enough to unbalance the other everyone suffers.
Are you aware that you shot down your opening statement by linking to those stories?
I was going to call it a disco, now I just want you to get off my lawn.
Ever start hacking some code and mentally critising the authour only to find out you were the authour?
I don't think it's about why people forget I think it's about why people remember. I think you remeber quicksort because you admire it's elegance. Certainly the type of work one does also has an influence on what people do or don't remember. I used to teach C lab classes part time in the early 90's and wrote the universities "text book" on searching and sorting techniques, back then I had no trouble remebering the algoritim. I don't know when I forgot it and didn't realise I had until the GP mentioned it.
I don't ask those sort of things until after I have determined they are honest. I'm not rude to bullshitters but I try not to waste too much time on them.
We read the book at school in the early 70's not long after the movie was realesed and then watched the movie in class. As another poster said the movie stops at Jupiter. The phycodelic stuff at the end is supposed to represent a new dawn of mankind as does the ape scene at the beginining. The basic plot is that god is an alien, even as a 12yo I enjoyed it but then again I've always been attracted to weird movies.
In otherwords I think Kubrick's movies do stand on their own and are well worth taking the time to understand, particularly clockwork orange and 2001, ymmv.
"I agree it's sort of hard to know one way or the other"
I think it's rather obvious what the article is saying and I agree with the GP that the summary is using 'scare quotes' it is also strongly implying that school policy is designed to crush independent thought. However TFA does not say what school policy the kid broke nor does it imply the school was sending him to renedification camp, it says...
"The student will not be prosecuted, but authorities were recommending that he and his parents get counseling, the spokesman [Luque] said. The student violated school policies, but there was no criminal intent, Luque said."
It then has two sentances expanding on the point of charges and costs before it gives the reason for the recommendation; "Luque said both the student and his parents were extremely upset. "He was very shaken by the whole situation, as were his parents".
Luque is the spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, and although the school may agree he is not speaking for them when he uses the word "authorities".
"Slashdot's summary seems to be pretty accurate."
It's not the facts in TFS the GP is complaining about, it's the misleading inuendo that panders to the paranoid delusions of a large number of slashdotters.
From TFA I can't see the principals actions as being anything but cowardice. Reading betwen the lines it would appear he didn't attempt to investigate the device but rather left the kids playing with it and ran off to call the cops.
I can certainly see the cops side of it, they cannot afford to assume the principal is crying wolf and they don't appear to have had the device at hand since they had to send a robot in to examine it.
The authorities recommended counciling...."authorities were recommending that he and his parents get counseling"
Probably because...."both the student and his parents were extremely upset. "He was very shaken by the whole situation, as were his parents," Luque said."
Cops and firefighters see traumatised people on a daily basis, I would assume their recommendation is sound advise.
I don't blame the cops at all, they must act as if the threat is real until they can determine otherwise, false alarms are much more common than real bombs but they cannot simply assume someone is crying wolf. Why (after talking to the kid) the authorities evacuated the school and went to the kids home is a total mystery. It would appear that by the time the cops arrived the kid was so scared and confused that he was not making a great deal of sense.
Why the principal jumped on the conclusion mat is a total mystery. If he thought it was a bomb when he first saw it but allowed the kids to continue playing with it while he called the cops then the whole sorry story can be explained by his monumental cowardice.
"What's the student supposed to get counseling for?"
To cover the principal's arse, again.
"I'm seven years out of college."
20yrs commercial experience since I was at Uni and gained my CS degree, most of it programming in C where quicksort is a library call. I had a vague recollection the algorithim involved recursion. I also majored in operations research and even though I passed with flying colours I still don't understand how some of the logistical algorithims work let alone remeber the details. The important part is knowing they exist and recognising where they might be applicable.
"If that's too confusing for you to understand or remember, once it's been taught to you, you should NOT be programming."
I've worked with people who have been in the bussiness for 40yrs, I put it to you that all of them would have forgotten more random trivia than what is currently stored in your head.
Agreed, you don't have to be a god to say no. All that is required is a modest fuck off fund and a little self respect. If the inteviewer wants a parrot then they should visit a pet store.
OTOH having interviewed ~50 programmers over the years I found most of them who get past HR are knowledgeable enough to do the job so you need to sort them by personality. One such personality sorting alogrithim I use is to ask esoteric questions until the prospective employee is forced to either start bullshitting or say the magic words "I don't know, I would have to look it up".
Since no two programmers have the exact same set of esoteric knowledge you can usually reach the crunch point in a few minutes and their response makes your choice obvious and defendable to others in the interview process.
its called a monorail
And there's nothing on earth like a genuine, bona fide, electrified, six-car monorail!
Lemme guess, you have watched 2001 but have never read it.
You must be popular at rave parties...
A real scientist would get a post-grad student to taste his urine.
PS: I'm not accusing you of being a luddite, I am saying you have been misinformed by luddites.
I can "imagine" finding out lots of things and yes there are a huge number of small risks that only come about because of industrialization, mecury and lead being prominent examples. If you want to filter your water to negate some of those small risks I have no problem with that and agree that it will improve the quality of your drinking water. In places where there is no water treatment a simple clay pot embedded with charcoal dust to make it pourous will do a pretty good job.
However I still think that people who ignore almost a century of real world evidence and campaign against chlorine (or fluoride) based on their imagination are luddites who are throwing out the baby with the bath water. The fact that greenpeace do it simply provides anti-environment types with more ammunition to discredit anyone concerend about serious environmental problems.
I'm not sure where you are getting your information on fluoride and it's alleged link to Alzheimer's but WP lists anti-fluoride campaings under their consipracy theory entry. They state "almost all major health and dental organizations support water fluoridation, or have found no association with adverse effects" and they point to their source
I could see some merit in the chemical idea if health was their sole motivation and they had something more than anecdotal evidence connecting the ailments to the towers, however also from TFA...
"Bismarck Olivier from the legal firm Bezuidenhout, Van Zyl and Associates, who represents the Craigavon residents, previously said that there is no talk of abandoning the action against iBurst and that the recent activity surrounding the issue is ‘only the beginning’. Olivier added that anyone who thinks that their legal case is based only on health issues is sorely mistaken, adding that their case is not built on health concerns alone, but rather various other aspects related to the mast, including the public participation and environmental approval processes which they are confident are flawed."
I read that as, "Yeah we know we are peddling public health FUD but that is not why my NIMBY clients want the tower removed". Notice also that his statement gives no clue as to what his clients motivation actually is now that his FUD has been soundly debunked.
The world is also full of hypochondriacs
And opportunists. Particularly of the unemployed kind, which I imagine most people claiming to be electrosensitive are.
Ironic post considering the title. Where would an unemployed S. African get the cash to hire lawyers and why would they care about property values? Or was it just that you saw an opportunity to bash the unemployed?
"I also once read a theory that the US cotton industry was behind the marijuana ban in the early 20th century. Or maybe it was the paper industry. Or both."
Your thinking of DuPont and it's relation to Harry Anslinger who was more or less the chief architect of modern prohibition.
"Sorry to dissapoint you, but cannabis is not legal in the Netherlands."
Technically it's not legal but in practice it is, this odd status has more to do with loop holes in international treaties than anything else. When I was over there recently I had no trouble buying high quality hash joints at any one of a dozen coffee shops within walking distance of Rembrantplein.
"people that trade cannabis in large quantaties"
I don't know what qualifies as "large quantities" but the brisk bussiness at the larger shops/bars indicates they have one hell of a stash somewhere. And at five euros per joint I imagine the profits, jobs and tax revenue it creates are not insignificant.
"You can read more on wikipedia"
Much more fun to actually go there and experience a society that refuses to declare war on itself.
"institutions like the WHO must also justify their existence"
The WHO erradicated the biblical plague of smallpox from the face of the Earth and are pretty close to achieving the same thing with polio. I went to school with polio victims in the 60's and as far as I am concerned their track record more than justifies their existence.
It a pity the WHO don't have a cure for arrogance and hubris because the comments I've read so far are sickening.
I'm glad you spoke up. I can't belive the number of supposedly educated people who automatically jump onto the conspiracy/scam conclusion mat. I'm sure that the drug companies rub their hands at this sort of thing but that does not change the risk/benifit analysis. I would much rather the government spent millions on vaccines that are not used than ignore credible warnings and end up spending millions on body bags.
Yes the WHO were wrong about the number of dead but it IS a very nasty strain that causes severe lung infections. Here in Australia swine flu put an unusually heavy load on ICU beds last winter.